


Fixer Upper

by uchihasavior



Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 11:18:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15862557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uchihasavior/pseuds/uchihasavior
Summary: The base Taka finds needs a little tuning before it's up to full speed. Sasuke's the man for the job.





	Fixer Upper

**Author's Note:**

> Amazingly, it's not porn this time!

“Here?” 

“Here.” Sasuke answers, moving ahead of Juugo to find the entrance to the base.

I looks awful, to say the least. A building almost completely downed, perhaps only saved by the pond around it. But his time with Orochimaru has taught him there’s always more than meets the eye, carefully squeezing himself and his charges into the entrance Sasuke locates. 

The staircase itself is pretty narrow, but around thirty feet under, it opens itself up to an expansive space. The walls are solid, the interior almost completely untouched, save for the layers of dust permeating everything...and the air.

Barely any sunlight manages to filter in here, but it’s enough...for a few hours at least. He turns, to ask Sasuke for directions, but only catches the hilt of the sword turning the corner, leaving him on his own. 

Ahh… Well, he’ll manage.

Juugo sets Karin carefully on the ground, making sure to avoid setting her on her back. The burns from Amaterasu are extensive, and knocked unconscious as she is, she won’t start healing just yet.

...Suigetsu is another matter. It is, admittedly, more difficult to carry someone when they have a thick, viscous consistency, but it’s at least a sign the other is alive. The difficulty is only amped when his body is this small, and neither Karin or Suigetsu have changed in size. 

Looks like Suigetsu will have to just track the dust on the floor, setting him on Karin’s opposite side. His arms ache.

With nothing else to do, Juugo backs himself into the wall, sliding down into a sitting position, knees at his chest. 

\--

It’s only an hour and a half of silence, and watching Karin’s breathing, before the lights come on.

...Lights?

He looks up, and sure enough, there are fixtures on the wall, and they’re not as bright as they would be under good maintenance, but enough to illuminate the room. Juugo stands, to see that Sasuke is returning.

“How are they.” The exhaustion hasn’t left his features. So that’s what Sasuke was doing all along, huh? Getting this place working.

“She’s breathing. Suigetsu is the same.”

“Get her into a bed. Down the hallway, to your right. I found a tank, but it needs fixing.” 

Juugo gives Sasuke a firm nod, hauling Karin into his arms, to give her a proper place to rest.

\--

To say the tank was in bad condition would be an understatement. 

There are chips in the glass. With enough water pressure, they could burst. Not an issue when the tank is completely empty and dry, but… 

Sasuke ignores the pain in his legs as he hops up to the top of the enclosure, inspecting the number of tubes that are attached to the top.

Two of them seem sturdy, but aren’t sealed at the top. The third one is, but needs the tubing replaced. And how far does the damage go? He’d like to safely assume any tubing within the walls hasn’t taken any damage. 

There has to be a valve here somewhere….something to release the water from around them into the tank. And an out-take, to circulate it around…

\--

_He’s soaked._

_This is the third broken faucet in the district in a month. Not all of them are as easy to reach as ducking down under the sink, and Sasuke’s just accepted he’s going to have several unintended showers today, lain flat on his back under the piping, reaching over blindly with his left for the sealing tube._

_With each problem he fixes, his speed and the ability to determine the problem grows. The sink and faucet in his spare bathroom were too rusty and damaged, so he replaced it with a newer one out of an adjacent house._

_The wiring in his room was faulty, and so he spent the next two days teaching himself about it until the lights shone as bright as he remembered._

\--

When Sasuke comes to, it’s staring blankly ahead. Senses come to him one by one. Sight… smell… touch… and hearing.

He shakes his head to try to collect himself, only earning a strong ache in the skull. Right-- he was working on this. Sasuke has shed everything on his lower half save for his pants and sandals, opting instead for a toolbelt he found hidden in one of the storerooms. 

The seal on one of the tubes has been fixed. Some of the machinery has been wiped down, only to make sure there weren’t any other cracks or damage that would cause the tank to burst when he finally tried to turn it on. 

It’s been three days now. His headache has never left, and it probably won’t with how little sleep he’s been getting. But they can’t all heal together unless Suigetsu’s given a tank to do so, and he’s not going to risk going back outside and simply leaving him in the water there.

Karin awoke yesterday. Sasuke wouldn’t have put it past her to simply stay in bed for a few more days, but she jumped at the chance to help, and together, they’ve scrapped parts of other pieces of piping, and the couple of spare tanks in the base. 

“I need that casing.” Sasuke points to the foot by foot square piece, and watches Karin’s hand reaching out.

“No, not that one. This one.”

“That’s the one you’re pointing at!” 

It is not. 

“Karin.”

She finally gets the correct one, and Sasuke wipes some sweat from his eyes, taking it in his hand. Most of the welding has to be done by jutsu, depleting his already low chakra stores.

Karin’s offered to bite three times today, but with as weak as she is? It won’t do much.

\--

For hours, the only sounds within the base are that of Sasuke’s work, and of Karin giving him parts as he requests (even if he keeps pointing to the wrong ones).

But there’s a trickling.

Sasuke squints hard to see if he’s left anything open to leak water from, until he realizes the source of the noise is on his right.

Huddled close to Suigetsu’s form, is Juugo, emptying his entire ration of water onto him. 

“...He always drinks so much. I thought it might help.” Is his reasoning, when faced by the stares of Karin and Sasuke.

They say nothing. Not even when Juugo takes the time to exit the base, and lay Karin’s damaged cloak long enough to get it dripping and heavy, laying it ontop of Suigetsu. It should do for now.

\--

“That should do it.” 

It’s day 5. He was beginning to see doubles of the pipes, and loathed to rest longer than necessary. The water is filled nearly to the top, and should circulate evenly once the lid is firmly shut. 

Juugo stands ready with Suigetsu, who’s condition has only improved minorly. His body almost looks human in shape again, though he’s still gelatinous, and see-through.

Together, he’s pulled up and dropped into the water, sinking down all the way to the bottom. Sasuke secures the seal, and pulls on the valve, listening to the machine work.

Nothing bursts. 

With a silent sigh of relief, he leaves the room, to get some rest.

\--

When Suigetsu wakes, there’s nothing there to meet him but an empty room, and the walls of a tank. 

It’s dirty on the outside, blocking up half a foot of sight, but it’s full of water, and he immediately rises up to the top.

“Sasuke?”

There is no answer. A glance up reveals lighting, but it’s dark outside. 

“Sasuke!” Suigetsu calls out again, forming hands, knocking against the thick glass. He’s not strong enough to break it…!

What had happened after the fight? Were they captured? Where in the world was he? 

“Sasuke! Come on man let me out--”

“SHUT UP, WILL YOU!? SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!”

It’s Karin’s screeching, and Suigetsu won’t lie, it’s a relief to hear. He moves himself to the leftmost side of the tank when he hears footsteps--

And there he is.

Looking like death, deep bags under his eyes, but it’s Sasuke, and Suigetsu grins ear to ear, sinking down to his level.

“Rest up.” It’s the only command Sasuke gives, and Suigetsu nods eagerly. 

He can. He will.


End file.
